California’s challenge is economic and political. The state may have plenty of water, but it doesn’t have enough for every possible use. Original link Original author: EDUARDO

April 7, 2015 Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Note: Petroleum production includes crude oil, natural gas liquids, condensates, refinery processing gain, and other liquids, including biofuels. Barrels per day oil equivalent were calculated using a conversion factor of 1 barrel oil equivalent = 5.55 million British thermal units (Btu). The United States remained the world's top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2014, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates. U.S. hydrocarbon production continues to exceed that of both Russia and Saudi Arabia, the second- and third-largest producers, respectively. For the United States and Russia, total petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbon production, in energy content terms, is almost evenly split between petroleum and natural gas. Saudi Arabia's production, on the other hand, heavily favors petroleum. Since 2008, U.S. petroleum production has increased by more than 11 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu), with dramatic growth in Texas and...

The liberal legal scholar Laurence H. Tribe, who taught Barack Obama at Harvard, represents the coal company Peabody Energy in its challenge to E.P.A. rules. Original link Original author: CORAL

Much has been made of deep divisions over global warming science in America, but there’s a lot of agreement on steps that could help cut greenhouse gas emissions. Original link Original author: ANDREW

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are honoring 128 businesses and organizations in 33 states with the Energy Star’s Partner of the Year award for their commitment to saving energy and protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency achievements.  Awardees are helping families save money by saving energy in innovative ways including working with utilities to offer rebates to customers, creating more efficient products, and launching efficiency projects. In 2014 alone, Energy Star partners, including the 128 Partners of the Year awardees, prevented more than 300 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and reduced utility bills for Americans by $34 billion.   “Our Energy Star Partner of the Year award winners demonstrate that energy efficiency is a smart business decision that supports their bottom line, and helps their customers save money and energy,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “I congratulate our Energy Star...

April 6, 2015 Source: Copyright BP, p.l.c. Used with permission Republished April 7, 2015, 11:20 a.m., text was modified. With the growth in U.S. production of light tight oil (LTO) in recent years, petroleum refiners in the United States have been processing greater volumes of LTO. To date, increased volumes of domestic LTO have mainly been accommodated with no- and low-cost options such as reducing light crude oil imports, increasing refinery utilization rates, making incremental efficiency improvements (crude unit debottlenecking), and displacing medium crude oil imports. A new EIA report reviews a range of additional options that U.S. refiners may consider to expand LTO processing capacity. The costs of these generic options vary according to each facility size, complexity, location, and a number of other factors: Size. Larger projects to provide additional LTO distillation capacity can have a greater overall cost but, given economies of scale, a lower per-barrel...

Working quietly, Gov. Jay Inslee is promoting an unusual plan to levy fees on carbon emissions and use the money for education and transportation. Original link Original author: KIRK

April 3, 2015 Although pumped hydroelectric storage makes up most of the total electricity storage capacity in the United States, nonhydro storage has doubled in electric power sector capacity from 160 megawatts (MW) to nearly 350 MW over the past five years. About 98% of the U.S. electricity storage is pumped hydroelectric storage, where water is pumped to a higher-elevation reservoir during off-peak demand and then run back down through a turbine during peak demand. However, pumped storage facilities are expensive to build and have specific siting requirements , making additional capacity builds in pumped storage infrequent. Nonhydro storage systems, which include compressed air, batteries, and flywheels, can provide several ancillary services to the grid , including regulating the grid's frequency on a second-to-second or minute-to-minute basis and fast-ramping capacity to cover sudden and unexpected gaps between electric demand and supply. The economic value of these services is beginning to be...

April 2, 2015 Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Evaluate Energy Note: Hedging is a financial risk-reduction strategy that market participants can use to lock in future prices. The decline in crude oil prices since last summer has had a direct impact on oil producers' sales revenue, but hedging strategies have lessened the effects of lower prices on some producers' total revenue. Oil producers who adopt hedging strategies can reduce their price risk and generate smoother financial outcomes in unstable markets. A common hedging practice is to sell futures and swaps to lock in desired prices for future production, a practice that can shield producers' revenue from decreasing prices. Analysis of hedging can be difficult because not all producers consistently report their hedging activity. In general, producers are not required to report hedge effectiveness in regulated financial statements. However, 32 U.S. oil producers have consistently reported their hedge...

EERE offers webinars to the public on a range of subjects, from adopting the latest energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, to training for the clean energy workforce. Webinars are free; however, advanced registration is typically required. You can also watch archived webinars and browse previously aired videos, slides, and transcripts. Upcoming Webinars April 7:  Live Webinar on Zero Energy Buildings: What Are They and How Do We Build Them? Webinar Sponsor: Better Buildings The Energy Department will present a live webinar titled "Zero Energy Buildings: What Are They and How Do We Build them?" on Tuesday, April 7, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.  Achieving zero energy is an ambitious yet increasingly achievable goal that is gaining momentum across geographic regions and markets. During this webinar, speakers from Better Buildings' partner Walgreens, the Rocky Mountain Institute, and the National Institute of Building Sciences will share details of...